KERRY TO RUSSIA: STOP LYING

U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry (right) with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov
before their meeting in Paris on June 5.REUTERS/Laurent Cipriani

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in a phone
conversation on Sunday on the importance of ensuring a swift
ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, a Foreign
Ministry statement in Moscow said.

But the State Department said Kerry did not accept Lavrov's
denial that heavy weapons from Russia were contributing
to the conflict and urged him "to stop the flow of heavy weapons
and rocket and artillery fire
from Russia into Ukraine, and to begin to
contribute to de-escalating the conflict."

"During a phone call this afternoon, Secretary Kerry urged
Foreign Minister Lavrov to stop the flow of heavy weapons and
rocket and artillery fire from Russia into Ukraine, and to begin
to contribute to de-escalating the conflict," the State
Department said in a readout of the call. "He did not accept
Foreign Minister Lavrov’s denial that heavy weapons from Russia
were contributing to the conflict."

Washington and the West
accuse Moscow of supporting rebels fighting Ukrainian
troops in the east of the former Soviet republic with
training,
military-grade
weapons,
and shellingby Russian troops on Ukrainian
positions across the border.

On July 17, Russian-backed rebels
shot down Malaysia Flight MH17, killing all 298 people
on board. A senior State
Department official stressed an additional point of the phone
call in a subsequent email, saying Kerry "underlined our support
for a mutual cease-fire verified by the OSCE and reaffirmed our
strong support for the international investigation to show the
facts of MH17."

Moscow denies involvement in east Ukraine. The Russian
statement described the crisis is an "internal conflict."